Orac³ wins Hotbox of the Year

The accolades keep coming for our own Pete &quot;G-gnome&quot; Dickison and his infamous Orac³ case mod. Having already been featured on the cover of magazines such as the UK's Custom PC and USA's CPU Magazine, Orac³ has been voted as &quot;Hotbox of the Year&quot; by readers of Australia's Atomic magazine.

The case beat out the other eleven monthly winners of the monthly case mod competition, which included some very strong designs and a few wacky dark horses.

Despite the fame and fortune the case has brought him since it's completion, Dickison was his usual humble self in accepting the top prize of a Biostar SFF machine complete with NVIDIA 7800 GTX graphics card. &quot;Thanks to all who pitched in with a kind word or two (and voted for me)&quot; he said. &quot;I feel lucky to have won, especially when I look at all the other cases that were in the running.&quot;

Over a year since it was finished, the project still continues to polarise opinion in the community. Most people love it, but not everyone is a fan. &quot;Don't like it, never have done, never will,&quot; posted one user on the Atomic forums. &quot;I will however appreciate the work that went into making it, but the means doesn't justify the end. Looks cluttered and ugly.&quot;

This is not an uncommon response, but what many don't realise is that this 'clutter' was intentional. The design brief in Orac³ Part 1 states: &quot;The original Orac was a messy mish-mash of cheap electronics components and coloured Perspex. I plan on creating a tidy mishmash of expensive electronic components and coloured Perspex! I do still hope to retain some of the characteristics of the original Orac.&quot;

Like any art form, judging the aesthetics of a case mod will always be a subjective exercise. The people have voted with their keyboards, and Orac³ came out the winner. But what is the next challenge for Dickison? I've got three letters for you: WMD.

Work is nearing completion and the plan is to unveil the case at Atomic Live 2005 - a free tech expo and gaming event in Sydney on 8th December. Naturally, bit-tech will be there to cover the festivities, so any Aussie readers are more than welcome to drop by to say hello - we might even be able to organise a giveaway or two.

Was Orac³ a worthy winner? Are you looking to hitch a ride to Atomic Live 2005? Post your thoughts and car-pooling offers in our News Discussion forum.